Tibetans Battle Chinese in Lhasa by ELIE ABEL
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Tibetans Battle Chinese In Lhasa By ELIE ABEL/ Special to The New York Times New Delhi, India – Open warfare against the Chinese Communist overlords of Tibet has broken out in Lhasa, according to official information reaching New Delhi. A spokesman for the Indian External Affairs Ministry confirmed reports that virtually the entire population of Lhasa had joined rebellious Khamba tribesmen in an unequal struggle against Chinese troops. What apparently provoked the Lhasa uprising was an attempt by Chinese authorities to arrest the Dalai Lama, spiritual ruler of Tibet. His whereabouts has not been revealed publicly. The Indian Consulate General in Lhasa was said to be in the center of the fighting between Potala, the Dalai Lama's winter residence, and his summer residence, called Norbulingka. The buildings are two miles apart. The trouble started a few days ago, reports said, when the Dalai Lama was summoned to the headquarters of Gen. Chang Ching, the Peiping Government's representative in Tibet. The young Buddhist leader did not obey the summons. A second message was then received from Chinese headquarters saying the Dalai Lama was to go there alone, without his abbots-in-waiting. This news alarmed the Tibetan faithful and raced through the city. The women of Lhasa, including the Dalai Lama's mother, raised a cry of weeping. Several thousand Lhasa residents gathered outside the winter residence and marched on the Indian Consulate General to appeal for help against the Chinese. The last word from the Tibetan capital was that Chinese had started firing in a determined attempt to put down the uprising. The townspeople and the Khambas also were said to be using firearms. Unofficial reports said fighting started three days ago. In view of the Indian Government's strenuous efforts in the past to play down reports of the Khamba uprising, confirmation of the Lhasa fighting came as a surprise. It was only three days ago that Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru told the Indian Parliament: "There may be some violence here and there; it is a difficult situation. But it is more a clash of wills at the present than a clash of arms or physical bodies." The Khambas, a tough Nomadic people, rose in revolt against Tibet's Chinese overlords last summer. Their resistance took the form of sabotage, sniping and occasional skirmishes. In some parts of southeastern Tibet along the Brahmaputra River Valley the Khambas managed to establish their own authority by forcing the Chinese to withdraw. Indian officials have consistently cautioned reporters against making too much of the Khamba uprising. They took the line that the tribesmen had nothing but small arms and were no match for the well-equipped Chinese Army. One of New Delhi's apparent fears was that in the event of an armed showdown the defeated Khambas would seek refuge in Indian territory. In his statement to the lower house of Parliament Tuesday Mr. Nehru said it was always "embarrassing" to discuss events in a neighboring country on the basis of limited knowledge. He acknowledged that the Dalai Lama, spiritual leader of the Tibetans, might have submitted to Peiping's authority under duress but went on to say that Chinese suzerainty over the isolated Himalayan country had been recognized in the past by all countries. Reports of Fighting Recalled As recently as last Dec. 28 there were persistent reports in many cities in India that Tibetan tribesmen had revolted against the Chinese Communist forces. Some Indian estimates were that as many as 50,000 Chinese had been killed in several months of fighting, along with 15,000 Tibetans. At that time there were rumors that the Dalai Lama might seek asylum in India. A spokesman for the Government of Nepal confirmed that rebel Khamba tribesmen from northeastern Tibet were crossing the border into Nepal as refugees in fairly large numbers. According to commercial travelers, the biggest flare-ups occurred between last August and October when the Khamba tribe in the eastern province of Kham revolted. Since that time, it was reported, there have been numerous small-scale clashed. Dalai Lama Enters India And Asks for Sanctuary April 3, 1959 Hong Kong – The Chinese Communists declared today that the Dalai Lama reached sanctuary in India Tuesday. They implied he had arrived with Indian approval. The announcement, over the Peiping radio, said the Tibetan leader had reached Indian soil "under duress." "It was learned that the Dalai Lama, under duress by rebellious elements, has now entered India," the Peiping broadcast said, "United States and British journalists are trying to interview him. "The Dalai Lama and others arrived in India on March 31. Indian border police authorities have left Towang to meet him." Towang is an Indian border post 150 miles south of Lhasa near Bhutan and Tibet. [In New Delhi, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru told Parliament Friday that the Dalai Lama had crossed into India and asked for asylum, United Press International reported.] Since the first confirmation by the Peiping radio March 28 that a state of revolt existed in Tibet, the Chinese communists have contended that he 23-year-old Dalai Lama had been seized by the rebels. Anti-Communist sources insisted that the Dalai Lama had fled under the protection of the rebels. The arrival of the Dalai Lama in India would raise delicate questions. On Tuesday Peiping warned that troubles within Tibet were "an internal problem." "No foreign country should interfere in the rebellion in Tibet, which is purely the internal affair of China," the Peiping radio said. This broadcast was apparently aimed at India. It referred to India as a "great and friendly neighbor" that would continue to observe an agreement to refrain from interference in the internal affairs of others "and will not permit friendly relations between our two countries to be damaged." The following day the Indian Deputy External Affairs Minister, Mrs. Lakshami Menon, declared in Parliament that the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi had been "highly improper" in distributing printed criticism of India's attitude toward the Tibetan crisis. She questioned the propriety of distributing reproductions of an editorial in The People's Daily of Peiping, which charged that Kalimpong, in India, was the "command center of the Tibetan revolt." Diplomats Report Arrival By REUTERS New Delhi, India -- The Dalai Lama has safely reached Indian territory in the Northeast Frontier Agency and will be granted asylum by the Indian Government, diplomatic informants said here last night. Towong, the Indian border post named by the Peiping radio, is in the Northeast Frontier Agency, a mountainous tribal area. Diplomatic sources said they believed the Indian government learned of the Dalai Lama's arrival in India Wednesday or early yesterday. The sources said New Delhi and Peiping had been in constant communication during the last few days. Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru wanted to make it clear that while India felt bound to give at least temporary asylum to the Dalai Lama, this should not be construed by China as an unfriendly act. An Indian External Affairs Ministry spokesman said no permits would be issued to correspondents to visit the Frontier area, which adjoins Assam. Peiping Attacks Rebels Kalimpong, India -- The Chinese Communists have launched an offensive southeast of Lhasa against the main stronghold of the Tibetan revolt. The thunder of artillery was heard in the Tibetan capital beginning at mid-day yesterday, according to authoritative reports reaching this Indian frontier town in the Himalayas. Recent reinforcement of the Chinese Army suggested the start of a decisive campaign to crush the insurrection. A communiquÈ broadcast last Saturday by the Peiping radio said the Tibetan Military Area Command was under orders "to stamp out the rebellion thoroughly." The artillery barrage south of Lhasa continued through last night and into this morning, the latest dispatches said. This was the first report of fighting since the Chinese garrison of 40,000 troops overwhelmed a Lhasa uprising March 22. Most of the rebel force has been in an area between Nagartse on the west and Lho Dzong on the east for eight or nine months. All that time the Chinese made no serious effort to challenge the rebels. The present offensive may have a more limited objective, it is said here, but in the long run the Chinese must overcome the rebels if they are to control Tibet. Large Guns Are Used By REUTERS Kalimpong -- Communist China has called up its big guns to crush Tibetan resistance, reliable informants said here today. They said the heavy artillery began booming Wednesday about twenty-five miles south of Lhasa. There have been reports on trouble brewing in Gyangtse, 100 miles southwest of Lhasa. The Chinese troops there have ringed the city with barbed wire, apparently to prevent rebel infiltration. A few stores in Lhasa are reported to have reopened, but a dusk-to- dawn curfew imposed during the revolt is still in force. Taiwan Gets Intelligence By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Taipei, Taiwan -- Nationalist China's official Central News Agency reported today that Tibetan rebels and Chinese Communist troops were fighting 165 miles northeast of Lhasa at Heiho. Central News said the report came from intelligence sources in Lhasa. The report said more than a hundred Communist troops were killed Monday and Tuesday in the Heiho area and fighting was still in progress. April 4, 1959 Man In the News God-King of Tibet: The Dalai Lama In early springtime, 1956, the youthful Dalai Lama sat in a new pavilion outside the Potala Palace in Lhasa and, under the watchful eye of the emissary from Peiping, Marshal Chen Yi, declared dutifully that Tibet's "entry into socialism" could be achieved only under China's leadership.